Archives

All posts by Malcolm Toogood

2010 seemed to be a somewhat slow year on the music scene, reflected in the fact that my album purchases were probably the lowest they have been this century; in fact quite a lot of the output seemed to have somewhat of a retrospective air about it, including the influences that inspired possibly half of this year’s selections.

AOTY10
Of course, recession years often mean that quality album output is somewhat sparse, because the music industry tends to put what investment it can into singles releases to ensure a quick return.  The promotional effort goes into creating singles-artist trends that are aimed to keep particularly popular songs at the top of the charts for many weeks.  However, even that failed in 2010, with just two tracks managing the maximum-stay for the year of just three weeks, and only two artists managing to have more than one individual number-one during the year. Continue Reading

There is something wonderfully English about queueing; not only is it the only word in the Oxford Dictionary that strings five vowels consecutively together, but it could be worth no less than 119 points in a game of Scrabble if strategically placed for a triple-word score and formed by using all seven of your tiles – the odds of which occurring are, realistically, probably in excess of those for winning the Lottery.

queue

However, it isn’t just the word that is fascinating, but the concept that an undefined number of people can randomly assemble themselves at a given point on the planet at the same time, all seeking the same, or similar, end to the quest that called them there.  Having done that they will, almost unerringly, regulate themselves to acquire what they seek in exactly the same order in which they arrived, with minimal communication beyond an inquisitive eyebrow-raise, or surreptitious beckoning hand, occasionally accompanied by a polite “after you”. Continue Reading

2009 was not a vintage year for new music; in fact for the most part it was a somewhat uninspiring end to what has been a most interesting decade of diversion and innovation.   Which is primarily the reason for the unusual lateness in reaching a final decision; a delay, I am pleased to say, brought about by a sudden rush of better-quality material at the end of the year, the result of which is a somewhat more pleasing top three albums than appeared likely in October.

AOTY09

Most purchases are, nowadays, invoked after seeing or hearing a live performance.  Radio’s 1, 2 and 6 are featuring ever-more studio sets, and on TV there is expanding festival coverage, plus regular series like ‘Live at Abbey Road’ and good old Jools.   We managed to get to more gigs as well this year, although these were predominantly catching-up with old favourites that we hadn’t yet seen ‘in the flesh’, or simply wanted to see again. Continue Reading

Well, it’s that time of year again for a review of the music scene and, for the 45th time, to select my personal Album of the Year.  As far as purchases are concerned, this year has been a real mix of new talent, follow-up albums to good debuts, and the return of classic artists after a long break.

AOTY08
With the accessibility of so-much live music, whether actually attending venues, listening to the likes of Jo Wiley’s Radio One Sessions, catching festival highlights throughout the summer, or simply surfing the web, bands have to be able to really perform, because it is now so very easy to judge their relative abilities through these various channels. Continue Reading